


The Magic School

by WritingWeirdo



Series: Blackthorn Academy [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Family Secrets, Magic, Orphanage, Orphans, Secrets, Teenage Drama, Witches, Wizards
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:47:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26683912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingWeirdo/pseuds/WritingWeirdo
Summary: Imagine one day you received a letter telling you that you've been accepted into a strange academy called Blackthorn Academy, a dream come true Elaine had thought before it happened to her. All she ever wanted was to get out of the orphanage and a letter from a strange far away school? It was perfect, until it actually happened. Finding out she was accepted into a strange academy? Strange but fine. Finding out she had magic and the school she had been accepted into was a magical school, well Elaine Keeger always knew she wasn't normal but that... that was strange even to her.Cross posted on Wattpad under @writingWeirdo1226
Series: Blackthorn Academy [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1941733





	1. Chapter 1

**𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚊𝚢 𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚍**

The day started out like normal. Nobody could have known that day would change everything for one Elaine Keeger, she certainly didn't know.

Elaine woke to the yellow rays of sunshine flowing through her window, her curtains pushed to the side unlike they had been last night. Elaine reluctantly opened her eyes with a groan only to find Sarabeth, one of the Silveroak's Orphanage caretakers, standing by her curtains with a smile that Elaine thought was evil and cruel considering the time. What was the time? She wondered before she shrugged it off, too early, she knew that.

"What do you want now?" Elaine groaned to Sarabeth who just grinned at the young girl.

"It's time to get up birthday girl." Sarabeth told the girl whose eyes widened as she shot up into a sitting position.

"What?!" Elaine screeched in shock. "It can't be!"

Sarabeth shook her head, "It's December 15th, your birthday. You're officially a teenager!" The woman told the girl excitedly.

Elaine observed the strawberry blonde women with suspicion, the women had never been kind to her, she certainly never celebrated her birthday so why was she so excited? Elaine asked the woman exactly that, "Why are you so excited?" At this point the woman was starting to freak Elaine out, it was her birthday and yet Sarabeth, someone who never cared before, was far more excited than her. Of course, Elaine never did like her birthday, she didn't have a reason to, the only part she liked about it was it meant she was closer to getting out of this hellhole.

"Oh don't you remember?" Sarabeth asked coldly, her light grey eyes twinkling with cruelness as she stared at the thirteen-year-old before her.

Elaine shook her head nervously, not knowing what to expect.

"When the children become teens, they are able to do more chores here at Silveroak." Sarabeth told the girl who's eyes widened.

More chores? How much more could she do? She already worked until at least ten o'clock every day, eleven-thirty on weekends, to finish all her chores after a full day at school. Elaine couldn't even begin to think of how late she would have to stay up with chores. She shuddered at the mere thought.

"Speaking of, it's time for your chores. Your new chore list will be given to you tonight, you will start them tomorrow." Sarabeth told her with a smirk. "Get dressed and get downstairs, you've got eight minutes." She said before she walked out the door, slamming Elaine's door behind her.

The rooms went by age, Elaine was in the middle, not old enough to be thrown in the worst rooms down the hall where the oldest children stayed and not young enough to be gifted the rooms downstairs that held any child below 11. Her old room was great, she had everything in there, and then she got thrown in here. It wasn't the worst room in the orphanage, not by far, but it certainly wasn't the best either.

The room had old beige paint that was peeling in spots, there were cobwebs all over, a twin-sized old wooden bed frame one of the older girls left here before the bed just sat on the floor, a small desk that used to have drawers and a pull out sliding part both of which had fallen off sat by the window which had red curtains pulled to the side and was currently completely open, the screen had fallen out years ago, apparently Sarabeth thought she needed fresh air as well as some sun this morning, the curtains didn't match the room at all but it was all she had, there was a small closet that held all her clothes with plenty of room to spare, on her bed sat a sky blue comforter that had a light gray on the other side, some dark gray sheets that had holes in it, some old pillows that were lifeless inside of the gray pillowcases they had been stuffed into, and on the edge of the bed sat the one of the two she had from her parents; her baby blanket.

The blanket was old torn and extremely dirty with holes scattered all over it however it was still her most prized possession next to her mother's locket which had a picture of her and her parents inside along with who she assumed to be relatives, the locket was the only way she knew they actually cared about her at some time. The blanket used to be a dark blue with white and yellow stars all over it to match a night sky and had a velvet blue borderline.

Elaine stood up, not wanting to waste the little time she had to get ready, went over to her closet and got out a dark gray shirt that had a pocket over the right breast, ripped jeans which when she bought them a year or two back had not been ripped, a black leather jacket one of the older girls gave her that despite being given to her over a year ago was far too big for her, and some black worn-out converse.

She changed into the clothes in the small bathroom right next door to her room, the bathroom was disgusting, to say the least. The only bathroom that was clean was the older children (who learned to clean it themselves) and the youngest who had the caretakers to clean it for them. She was the only one who had ever tried to clean this bathroom and had given up when after not even a day of it being clean it had become dirtier than before. Now the only time it got cleaned was when one of the older kids cleaned it for them or the orphanage had an inspection.

Once she was changed she had exactly two minutes to get downstairs before Sarabeth came up and either yelled at her or punished her. The punishment would range from more chores to lock in your room with no lights, contact, or food for 24 hours. She only got the worst punishment once before and she hated it. Luckily Sarabeth only gave that one out when she was in a terrible mood and it seemed like today she was in a surprisingly good mood, most likely because of Elaine being old enough for her to give more chores. She was still scared to see the long list of chores she would soon have, she didn't even want to imagine how long it would be.

Elaine made it downstairs just in time as Sarabeth had just exited the kitchen presumably to yell at her. "Hello, Ma'am." Elaine greeted politely, thinking maybe if she played it right she wouldn't get too many chores when Sarabeth and the other caretakers wrote the list later.

"Hello brat. Do your usual chores and then leave me alone." Sarabeth told her sternly, her good mood from early having disappeared leaving Elaine to wonder who had shoved a stick up her butt.

Nonetheless, Elaine nodded obediently as if she had any choice. "Yes ma'am." Without another word, Sarabeth walked away.

Once Sarabeth was out of sight, Elaine turned to the children in the room who happened to be some of the older kids who were older than her by at least two years, some by four. "Who pissed her off?" She asked as she went over to the dishes, one of her chores.

"I don't know why don't you ask her." One of the girls, Callie, said pointing to Isabella, who was sixteen, a year older than Callie.

Isabella scoffed, "Me? I didn't do anything, that was your fault." Isabella retorted. The two girls had been enemies since the day Callie found out Isabella had kissed Ethan, a sixteen-year-old boy who apparently Callie had a crush on.

"So in other words it was both of your faults." Elaine replied as she rolled her eyes. The two girls were always fighting and rarely ever hid their arguments leaving the caretakers in bad moods since they were then forced to deal with them.

"Basically." Xander, a fourteen-year-old boy, said in agreement as Lucas, one of the oldest at seventeen years old, chuckled.

Once Elaine finished all of her chores it was already eleven-fifteen and she was exhausted. The only thing she was grateful for? Not having school to deal with the next day. It was a Saturday so to Elaine's relief she didn't have any school until Monday when her school started.

Elaine rushed up to her room, excited to lay down and relax for a little while, she pushed open her door before quickly closing it behind her and flopping down on her bed with a sigh of relief. She didn't even notice the black owl that could be mistaken for a raven due to its feathers colors, well she did eventually notice it when after a minute or two of relaxing she heard a loud hoot echo across her room. Her eyes snapped open and she quickly surveyed the room only to find the raven black owl sitting on her windowsill.

Elaine let out a yelp as she shot out of bed, her eyes widened as she stared at the bird. Only one thought on her mind, what the bloody hell was an owl doing in her room?

Elaine shook her head as she straightened up, focusing on the owl, her eyes never daring to stray from the bird. She slowly approached the owl as if it was a dangerous lion that could attack at any second. Once she got closer she realized the bird had a letter tied to its leg. Furrowing her eyebrows she got closer and, upon realizing the bird was in fact not going to attack at any second, untied the letter from around the owl's leg. Confusion spread across her face as she realized the strange letter was for her. Well her first name was on it anyway.

Elaine Lilith Crescent

401 Galloway Drive, Doncaster, England

She had never known her real last or middle name, the last name Keeger was one of the old caretakers last names. They had been the one to find her on the porch twelve years ago when she was a mere six or seven months, she was found with a blanket, her baby blanket, that she was swaddled in, the letter and her mother's locket hidden inside the blanket.

She shook her head, back to the letter. It was tied with a thin rope that went across and down the front, the envelope was sealed with a wax seal, the seal was black and had a thorn bush on it with Blackthorn Academy written in cursive across the top of the wax curling around into a circle.

Elaine carefully untied the string before breaking the seal and pulling out a piece of paper, it was stained like an old piece of paper and smelled like one too, Elaine wrinkled her nose. She loved the smell of books but this smelled different and not in a good way. She carefully unfolded the letter and found it written in fancy cursive like letters.

**Dear Elaine Crescent,**

**We at Blackthorn Academy for The Gifted are honored to inform you that you have been accepted into Blackthorn Academy. School begins September 12th, a list of supplies is included in the letter please get everything on the list and be prepared for a magical year.**

_**Headmaster Jacob Blackthorn** _

**Blackthorn Academy for The Gifted**

Elaine closely observed the letter taking in every word once, twice, three times before she turned to the other page where the school supplies were listed. This was when things got even stranger. A quick glance told her most of the items she didn't believe existed and she couldn't imagine her being able to afford even one item off the list however despite not quite believing in the letter, a small childlike hope inside of her urged her to read on in case maybe just maybe this was real and she could truly go to this academy and get away from Silveroak Orphanage.

Elaine would do anything to get out of the Orphanage before she turned eighteen when they would force her out, and so she read on.

The supply list was strange. Even stranger than the owl that had delivered her the letter that said she was accepted to a strange academy for 'the gifted', Elaine had a feeling the academy was not for the gifted, at least not in the way schools usually meant. On the other side of the acceptance letter which also had a list of rules on the bottom as well as what she assumed to be the school's crest and motto at the bottom of the page. Elaine hadn't even bothered reading the rules, she never cared about rules before, why should she care now?

**At least two black robes**

**At least two plain gray ties**

**Two pointy hats**

**Blackthorn uniform from Madam Beatrice's**

**Seven dragon-scale notebooks**

**Two quills**

**Two ink bottles**

**One silver cauldron**

**Potion bottles**

After that, Elaine understood nothing. There were all sorts of books ranging from potions to... shapeshifting magics? Elaine was certain none of it was true, well almost certain. For some reason, a part of her she had buried deep inside told her to believe it. That part was the naïve child inside her who used to believe she had magic, that her parents were a witch and wizard, her hand went to the scar on her wrist that read 'Magic Isn't Real' a constant reminder that any of that nonsense beliefs were nothing but daydreams.

She has had the reminder since she was a mere five years old, as a child she would look at it and cry, now it made her cower, ashamed of her stupid daydreams. The reminder had achieved exactly what it was intended for, she never believed in magic again. Even when the other children her age tried to get her to believe that fairies and mermaids were all real, she didn't even think there a chance it could be real, when she did, she glanced at her wrist and began to cry, regretting the thoughts almost immediately.

Elaine continued to read the list, barely glancing at the things she didn't quite understand because what was the point. At the bottom of the page were words written in all capitals that caught her attention.

REMINDER Students are not allowed more than one pet unless they are familiars, Students are also not allowed brooms until they are in second year. If these rules are broken, the student will be suspended for up to two months

Elaine stared in confusion, what were familiars? And why aren't the students allowed brooms? What did they think they would do, fly off to neverland? Elaine huffed, she wished.

Despite the constant reminder permeanately engraved on her wrist, Elaine loved to read any books that involved getting away from home. As a child, her favorite was Neverland. She used to keep the window open for Peter Pan as a child, hoping that by some sort of miracle he would come to take her away from this place. Some nights, if she was extra desperate and/or tired, she would still open her window in hopes of Peter Pan coming to save her.

Elaine sighed, folding the letter back up and setting it down on her desk. The owl had flown away at some point, something Elaine hadn't noticed until she looked around for the bird and couldn't find it anywhere. Elaine sighed once more as she sat back down on her bed.

She had no idea what to do now, on one hand, all she ever wanted was to get away from this place, on the other hand being accepted into an academy she had never heard of before? It seemed suspicious. She hadn't even sent in an application and she didn't even know where it was! What if... Elaine shook her head, there was no way. No freaking way that could happen. Her parents couldn't have enrolled her in the school before their deaths, she was only six months, she couldn't even be on a Kindergarten waitlist yet let alone an academy's enroll list. Okay actually she didn't know if they could how could she when she didn't even know their names? All she knew was what they told her.

They left her on the doorstep in the night in the rain, she would be dead without the orphanage. She was better off without them and she certainly didn't need them. Of course, she didn't believe the last bit, she wasn't better off. This was not better off. Some nights she wished they hadn't found her. She wished her parents came back for her even if it was five years too late. She never stopped wishing for them to come to save her, it was more realistic than Peter Pan taking her away to neverland although some nights she felt it was more likely Peter Pan would come.

She glanced at the letter as if it would have disappeared to find it still sitting exactly where she put it on her desk. Blackthorn Academy huh? Was that her ticket out? Or was it a mere scam? She didn't have the answers of course. No matter how much she wanted to know she didn't. She didn't know anything about this. She wanted to take the chance, who wouldn't? She wanted to believe it, however, she didn't know if she could believe it. It sounded insane even to her, the girl who was constantly called crazy. Or at least she used to be, these days she was just called a machine because she didn't stop until everything was done and she never let anyone see her when she's vulnerable, some in the orphanage debated whether or not she even slept, of course, the older kids booted that idea out, they had to wake her up plenty of times to know she did.

"What do I do?" She asked the stick on stars on her ceiling as she stared up at them.

_Go_ , a voice inside herself told her, she jumped at the noise the voice seemed so... real, so familiar. It wasn't her voice, she was sure of that so who's voice was it?

_Go, Elaine,_ the voice told her once again as she glanced at the letter, her decision going unsaid as she grinned. She still didn't know if she believed in this academy too much but she decided to take the chance and maybe just maybe she'd be able to get away from here before it destroyed her. Now all she had to do was wait.

**꧁ 𝟹,𝟷𝟺𝟹 𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜 ꧂**


	2. Chapter Two

𝙽𝚘𝚠 𝚘𝚛 𝙽𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛

_________________

After Elaine decided she would take the insane chance that this strange school was real, she realized she had no clue where it was and where she would get her things from. She got off her bed and went to her window, in hopes that the owl was nearby she let out a loud whistle. To her surprise not a minute later the owl swooped in, almost flying right into her before it settled on the desk once more. Elaine let a triumphant grin spread across her face despite the shock she felt. She quite honestly did not expect the owl to come back let alone that fast. It almost seemed like it was trained or something...

Elaine shook her head, never mind that, she had things she must do before the owl flew off again. She sat down at her desk and grabbed one of her old notebooks that still had some empty pages, ripped out a page clumsily, and grabbed one of her mechanical pencils, clicking it once, twice before she pressed it onto the page, pausing for a moment after writing the introduction, not knowing what to say. After a moment she continued.

Dear Blackthorn Academy,

I'm honored to be accepted however I'm afraid I don't know where the academy is or where I'm supposed to get the supplies from. If someone could please send a reply with an address or anything that could answer these questions it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for accepting me,

Elaine Keeger

It was short however Elaine didn't know what else to write, she hardly believed this school was even real and she didn't want to waste her time mulling over what else to write in the letter. It was strange enough for her to send a reply to a school that sounded so... crazy. Magical, her mind corrected. She shook her head, disagreeing with herself, magic isn't real she reminded herself.

Elaine folded the letter and put away her pencil and notebook before she realized she didn't have any envelopes. Elaine let out a small groan, what was she going to do now? Her mind flashed to the stack of envelopes Sarabeth always had in her office, a place Elaine visited quite often considering how much she got into trouble even when she didn't do anything wrong. She shook her head, no that was far too dangerous, even for her. Unless... she was going to a new school that was far away from this place and seemed like a boarding school so... no, she would still be around them for another... nine months, far too dangerous.

Elaine went back and forth for a few minutes before she sighed as she thought, oh what the hell and stood up from her desk. She may regret this later but that would be a problem for future Elaine.

Elaine crept down the stairs, staying as quiet as humanly possible before she snuck over to Sarabeth's office which was down the hall from the foyer of the orphanage, the hallway was rather long considering the only other thing besides the office, which was at the very end of the hallway, was a small guest bathroom that was rarely ever used. The office and hallway were rather creepy, even the bathroom seemed creepy which may be the reason no one besides the caretakers ever used it. Elaine peeked into her office through the glass door that had a small metal plack stating it was the office once she got closer to it and found it empty. Perfect, Elaine thought with a smirk before she hesitantly opened the door, moving it slowly so as to not alert anyone, especially not the caretakers.

Once the door was opened, Elaine rushed in and steadily closed it before she turned to the office and grinned. The office was rather small and dark, only a dim light that hung from the ceiling brightened the room, no windows found despite it being on the right floor for windows. In the middle of the room sat a black desk with a small computer and two monitors along with a stack of cards and envelopes, next to the stacks sat a medium square metal container holding random pens and pencils as well as a smaller circle container next to it that held candies that Elaine was certain nobody liked or ever ate without being forced to, a layer of dust covered the nearby brown wooden bookcases that pressed against the wall behind the desk, the bookcases were tall, going all the way to the ceiling and were full of books that nobody ever touched judging by all the dust on the shelves and cobwebs on the corners of the shelves. Elaine swore she saw a spider on one of the books which made her shudder before she focused on her task, she moved between the two small uncomfortable gray chairs and grabbed one singular envelope. Luckily unlike the rest of the room, Sarabeth kept her desk surprisingly clean leaving no dust to be found on anything she had on the desk including the envelopes.

Elaine gingerly placed the envelope in her back pocket slowly as if it would bite her before she turned around and went over to the door, she peeked out of the glass to make sure nobody was there before she slowly opened it just as she had before and left the room, closing the door behind her.

With a triumphant smile that hid the fear in her eyes, Elaine rushed up the stairs to her room, pushing past a few of the other children to do so which got her some strange looks thrown her way however it was nothing new for Elaine so she wasn't bothered by it. She practically slammed her door behind her, in fact, she almost did slam it however lasts minute she realized how late it was and tried not to make too much noise.

Once her door was closed and locked (although the lock wasn't too trustworthy) she went back to her desk and sat down, letting out a breath she didn't realize she had been hiding since she left her room at least ten minutes ago although to her it felt like forever ago. She closed her eyes for a moment, just a moment to relax before she opened her eyes, straightened up, and pulled the envelope out from her pocket, it was a tad messed up now but she didn't care all too much about it, all she had to do was send the letter via owl, something Elaine still thought was absolutely insane.

Despite these thoughts, she grabbed her folded letter she had left on her desk and slipped it into the envelope with a hesitant grin, she wasn't sure why she was even doing this, perhaps the child in her thought that by some miracle this school could be real or perhaps she just wanted to prove her crazy thoughts wrong, prove once and for all that magic did not exist.

Once the letter was in the envelope, she licked the edges so they would stick and sealed the envelope, unlike the wax seal found on her acceptance letter, this didn't take long at all. She glanced over at the string the acceptance letter had hesitantly, she looked over at the owl, confused about what to do next.

"What do you think?" Elaine questioned the bird holding up the sealed envelope and the string, "String or no string?" She added before she dropped both items and groaned, placing her hands on both sides of her head covering her ears, her eyes closed as she spoke, "And now I'm talking to an owl, of all things an owl... I've gone bonkers, that must be it. I've lost whatever sanity I had."

Elaine sighed before she opened her eyes which widened in shock when she saw the owl holding the letter she had dropped, her jaw dropped as she stared at the owl who stared right back, she felt as if the owl was staring into her soul which made her shiver as she began to get creeped out.

"Uh thank you?" Elaine said with a nervous grin, the owl just stared at her before it turned around and flew off, flying into the air and disappearing from view.

Elaine stared out the window despite the owl being gone already, pure shock and amazement on her face as she stared at the dark sky lit only by the nearby lights from buildings, houses, and the stars in the sky which were hard to see now due to all the city lights although if you were lucky you could see a few shining through the lights of the buildings.

Elaine shook her head, snapping herself out of it as someone began to bang on her door extremely loudly. "Who is it?!" Elaine called trying to make her voice loud enough to hear over the powerful knocks.

"Open up girl!" A voice yelled from outside the door, Elaine let out a groan, it was Meredith, another caretaker who was just as annoying as Sarabeth but half as creepy, the woman had long curly ginger hair and dark green eyes that would normally be very beautiful however on her it just seemed scary, perhaps that was because Elaine knew the woman, perhaps it was just Elaine thinking into it too much.

Elaine rushed over to the door so she wouldn't be punished for not letting them in along with locking it, something they were told not to do, and unlocked it just as Dean, another caretaker and the only one Elaine actually liked, spoke up, "Relax Meredith, she may be changing or something."

Elaine heard Meredith huff, "I don't care. The children must not lock the doors. Ever."

Not wanting to start a fight between the caretakers, Elaine opened the door to find Meredith with anger spread across her face and her fist raised to bang on her door some more with Dean, a man with dark brown hair that went down to the tip of his ears, freckles spread across his face mostly his cheeks, dark hazel eyes, he was a tall man with a muscly figure that would usually scare Elaine however she knew the man was just a big teddy bear, something you wouldn't guess if you saw him like he is now with an angry scowl on his face and his eyes narrowed however when he saw her, he grinned. Elaine couldn't tell if the grin was forced or not but she didn't care, it still managed to comfort her. She knew he would always protect her, as much as he could anyway.

"Hi sorry, I was doing homework, one of the younger kids kept coming in so I didn't want to be interrupted anymore." Elaine lied with a small nervous grin, it had happened before and many of the older kids complained about it enough for it to be believable.

Dean nodded, "It's-" Dean began to comfort the young girl seeing how nervous she was however Meredith interrupted her before he could, "Unacceptable!"

Meredith huffed, a scowl on her face as she narrowed her eyes, towering over the new teen easily, "Absolutely unacceptable!" Her voice echoed down the hall, sounding as if it echoed through the whole orphanage although Elaine doubted it did however some of the others were sure to hear it. Elaine winced in fear but didn't say a word.

Dean cleared his throat, "We're just here to give you your new chore list." He told her comfortingly, Elaine nodded, that was her guess when she saw both of them there.

"Alright." Elaine replied nodding along as she noticed the paper Meredith was gripping tightly in her hand. "May I see it?"

Meredith huffed again and shoved it into Elaine's awaiting hands, "Here girl, make sure you finish all the chores every day or else-"

"I'll be punished, I know." Elaine interrupted in a bored tone as she held the paper to her chest, not even wanting to glance at it yet in fear of seeing how many chores she would.

Meredith went to lecture the girl, most likely about her back talking but Dean spoke before she could, "I think we can go now, Meredith."

Meredith nodded curtly, her lips pursed as she spun around and walked away. Elaine was certain that if the woman was a child she would have stomped off and made a big ruckus about it all. "I'm sorry about her Elaine." Dean told the young girl apologetically.

Elaine shook her head, knowing it wasn't Dean's fault. "It's fine." She responded brushing it off easily. She was far too used to their attitudes by now.

Dean shook his head, disagreeing with Elaine's words. "It's not but you don't know any better." Dean sighed. "I have to go. Good luck." Dean glanced at the paper one last time before he walked down the dim hallway to the stairs.

Once Elaine was certain no more caretakers would jump out to scare her she closed the door and turned to face her room, releasing a sigh before she looked down at the paper. It was folded however it didn't seem very long, it certainly wasn't longer than her normal chore list, if anything it was shorter but that simply couldn't be. Everyone got more chores the older they got, they wouldn't go easy on anyone let alone her.

Well, it was now or never, Elaine thought as she let out a sigh, hesitantly unfolding the piece of paper. Hope filled her as she saw how small it was however before she could become too hopeful, she realized there was more written on the other side and another paper stapled to the first that also had chores on both sides however it only went down halfway on the other side of it. Elaine's eyes widened with each chore she read, by the end of it, she was certain she would be up until at least one o'clock every night, even school nights. How the other children would have any chores to do with how many she had, she wasn't sure. She almost thought they just made them do the same things to see which one would do it better.

Elaine walked over to her desk and set her new chore list down on it before her eyes caught a star outside the window, she was memorized for a moment by the bright shining star, the second star to the moon came to mind before she snapped herself out of it. She closed her window as quickly as she could and closed the curtains before she went over to her bed and sat on the edge of it, exhaustion coming over her just from reading all the things she would have to do. At least she wouldn't have a new list until her sixteenth birthday, she reminded herself gloomily, it wasn't much but it was something at least, right?

Elaine closed her eyes and laid back on her bed, not wanting to think of the terrifying list any longer. Once Elaine got comfortable, she realized just how exhausted she was and before she knew it she was out like a light. She didn't even change into pajamas, something she regretted the next day.

Before she completely succumbed to the darkness, she had one last thought, maybe if this school's real I'll be able to get out of here. It was quite honestly sad how much humor her thought held, little hope to be found as she succumbed to the darkness without another thought.

𝚂𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟸𝚗𝚍

After many months without a reply from the strange academy, Elaine had given up any and all hope she had of it being real. She wished she could forget about it however she couldn't, she thought about the strange acceptance letter every day filling her with false hope that was nonexistent by the time the moon came out.

So, as she had every day, Elaine got out of bed, looked over to her window just in case a strange owl would be there, sighed in disappointment, and went over to her closet as if nothing had happened which was true.

Once Elaine picked out her outfit for the day, she went out to the bathroom and quickly changed, brushing a strand of her curly ginger hair behind her ear after it fell over her eye. She didn't even attempt to tame her wild hair, she had tried too many times in the past, it was just a waste of her time and energy, something that she treasured as of recently. She grabbed a scrunchie, the only thing that could hold her hair without it being extremely loose, and put her hair in a ponytail to keep it out of her face. She missed a single strand which she glared at as she blew a bit of air at it to get it out of her face before she glanced at her olive-green eyes for a moment, finding them just as lifeless as usual. Some people, especially the children here, had eyes that twinkled with happiness, hers never twinkled like that. Not since she was five.

Elaine slipped on her black leather jacket after a shiver wracked her body, it was colder than she realized. She could hear Sarabeth causing chaos downstairs so she glanced one last time at herself in the dirty mirror, you could hardly make out her dark red t-shirt and black ripped jeans in the mirror due to how dirty the mirror was. The bathroom was absolutely disgusting and she hated it, a lot, however, it wasn't like she could do anything about it. If she did, it would be a waste of her time.

Not wasting any more time (no matter how much she wanted to) Elaine left the bathroom and went downstairs, not bothering to look at her chore list that was hanging in her bedroom, she had it memorized by now and rarely ever needed to so much as glimpse through the pages. 

Just as the clock struck two, Elaine heard a loud knock at the front door of Silveroak Orphanage, being the closest to the door since she was dusting the nearby shelves, Elaine went to answer it, not knowing the visitor was there for her. Quite honestly, if she did know she probably wouldn't even believe it. Nobody had ever visited her, let alone at the orphanage.

꧁ 𝟹,𝟶𝟾𝟼 𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜 ꧂


End file.
